The Odyssey 1732 Studios

Ancient Greek · The Homecoming

Ὀδυσσείας υ

Book 20. The Night Before; Omens of the Suitors' Doom

Odysseus lies awake and hears the maids go out to the suitors. Zeus thunders. At the feast Theoclymenus sees the hall full of ghosts.

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    But noble Odysseus lay down to sleep in the forecourt;

    Metre

    αὐτὰρbutἀτάρ · particlesentence particle
    ὁheὁ · nominative singular masculine pronounsubject
    ἐνinἐν · prepositionpreposition
    προδόμῳforecourtπρόδομος · dative singular masculine nounadverbial to ἐν
    εὐνάζετοlay down to sleepεὐνάζω · imperfect medio-passive indicative, 3rd singular verbmain verb

    Middle voice: he beds himself down, not acted upon.

    δῖοςnobleδῖος · nominative singular masculine adjectivemodifies Ὀδυσσεύς

    Standard Homeric epithet δῖος 'godlike, noble' fixed to Odysseus' name.

    ὈδυσσεύςOdysseusὈδυσσεύς · nominative singular masculine nounsubject
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    he spread an untanned oxhide on the ground, and over it

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    many fleeces of sheep that the Achaeans were forever slaughtering;

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    and Eurynome threw a cloak over him once he had lain down.

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    There Odysseus lay, brooding evil in his heart against the suitors,

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    wide awake; and out from the hall the women came

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    filing along, the ones who used to consort with the suitors before,

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    giving each other laughter and merriment.

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    But his heart was stirred within his own breast;

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    and he pondered much, deep in his mind and heart,

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    whether to spring among them and deal death to each woman,

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    or to let them lie one more time with the arrogant suitors,

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    for the last and final time; but the heart within him was growling.

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    As a bitch, standing over her tender pups,

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    barks at a man she does not know and is eager to fight,

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    so his heart growled within him in outrage at the wicked deeds.

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    But he struck his chest and rebuked his heart with words:

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    "Endure now, my heart; you once bore a thing more shameful still,

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    on that day when the Cyclops, unrestrained in fury, devoured

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    my mighty companions; yet you held out, until your cunning

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    led you out of the cave when you thought you would die."

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    So he spoke, chiding the dear heart within his breast;

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    and his heart held firmly in obedience, enduring

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    without flinching; but he himself kept twisting this way and that.

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    As when a man, before a great blazing fire, turns a paunch

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    stuffed full of fat and blood, this way and that,

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    and longs to have it roasted very quickly,

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    so he tossed himself this way and that, pondering

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    how he might lay his hands upon the shameless suitors,

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    one man against many. Then Athena came near him,

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    descending from heaven; in form she was like a woman.

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    She stood above his head and spoke to him:

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    "Why are you awake again, most ill-fated of all men?

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    This is your house, and your wife is here within it,

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    and your son, the kind of son any man could wish to have."

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    Then Odysseus of many wiles answered her:

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    "Yes, goddess, all of this you have spoken rightly;

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    but this is what my heart keeps pondering within my breast:

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    how I am to lay my hands upon the shameless suitors,

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    being one man alone, while they are always packed together inside.

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    And besides this, I ponder a thing still greater in my mind:

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    even if I should kill them, by the will of Zeus and you,

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    where could I escape? I bid you consider this."

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    Then the goddess, gray-eyed Athena, answered him in turn:

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    "Hard man, even one who trusts a weaker comrade can prevail,

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    one who is mortal and knows fewer counsels than I do;

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    but I am a goddess, who guards you through and through

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    in all your toils. And I will tell you openly:

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    even if fifty companies of mortal men

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    stood around us, straining to kill us in battle,

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    even then you would drive off their cattle and sturdy sheep.

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    But let sleep take you too; it is a misery to keep watch

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    awake all night, and now you will rise up out of your troubles."

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    So she spoke, and she poured sleep over his eyelids,

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    and she herself went back to Olympus, bright among goddesses.

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    While sleep was seizing him, loosening the cares of his heart,

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    the limb-loosener, his faithful wife awoke, wise in her thoughts;

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    and she wept, sitting up on her soft bed.

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    But when she had had her fill of weeping in her heart,

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    first of all the woman, radiant among women, prayed to Artemis:

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    "Artemis, lady goddess, daughter of Zeus, would that now

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    you would strike an arrow into my breast and take away my life

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    this very moment, or that a storm-wind would snatch me up

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    and carry me away down the murky paths,

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    and cast me into the mouths of back-flowing Ocean.

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    As when storm-winds carried off the daughters of Pandareus;

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    the gods had destroyed their parents, and they were left

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    orphans in the halls, and radiant Aphrodite cared for them

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    with cheese and sweet honey and pleasant wine;

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    and Hera gave them, beyond all women,

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    beauty and good sense; chaste Artemis granted them stature,

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    and Athena taught them to work at glorious crafts.

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    But while radiant Aphrodite was climbing to high Olympus,

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    to ask, for the girls, the fulfillment of flourishing marriage —

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    going to Zeus who delights in thunder, for he knows all things well,

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    both the destiny and ill-fortune of mortal men —

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    meanwhile the Harpies snatched the girls away

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    and gave them to the hateful Erinyes to serve.

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    So may those who hold the halls of Olympus blot me out,

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    or fair-haired Artemis strike me, so that I might go

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    still keeping Odysseus in view, even beneath the hateful earth,

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    and never gladden the mind of a lesser man.

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    Yet this is an endurable evil, when someone

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    weeps through the days, grieving sorely in the heart,

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    but sleep holds them at night — for it makes one forget everything,

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    good and bad alike, once it has closed over the eyelids —

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    but for me a god sends even evil dreams.

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    For this very night one lay beside me, like himself,

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    looking as he did when he went off with the army; and my heart

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    rejoiced, for I did not think it a dream, but waking truth at last."

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    So she spoke, and at once golden-throned Dawn came.

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    Noble Odysseus heard the sound of her weeping;

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    then he pondered, and it seemed to him in his heart

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    that she already knew him and was standing by his head.

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    Gathering up the cloak and the fleeces on which he had slept,

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    he laid them on a chair in the hall, and the oxhide

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    he carried out of doors; then, lifting his hands, he prayed to Zeus:

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    "Father Zeus, if it was your will that over dry land and water

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    you brought me to my own land, after you afflicted me so sorely,

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    let someone of the people now waking speak an omen to me

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    from inside, and outside let another sign of Zeus appear."

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    So he spoke in prayer, and Zeus the counselor heard him,

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    and at once he thundered from gleaming Olympus,

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    high up out of the clouds; and noble Odysseus rejoiced.

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    And a woman, a grinder of grain, sent forth an omen from the house

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    nearby, where the mills stood for the shepherd of the people,

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    at which twelve women in all toiled away,

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    making barley-meal and flour, the marrow of men.

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    Now the others were sleeping, since they had ground their wheat,

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    but this one alone had not yet stopped, being the feeblest of them.

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    She stopped her mill and spoke a word, a sign for her master:

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    "Father Zeus, you who rule over gods and men,

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    loudly indeed you have thundered from the starry sky,

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    and there is no cloud anywhere: surely you show this as a sign to someone.

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    Grant now to wretched me too the word that I will speak:

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    may the suitors, for the very last and final time this day,

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    take their lovely feast in the halls of Odysseus,

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    they who with heart-grieving toil have loosened my knees

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    as I made their meal: now may they dine for the last time."

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    So she spoke, and noble Odysseus rejoiced at the omen

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    and at the thunder of Zeus, for he believed he would punish the guilty.

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    The other serving-women through the fair house of Odysseus

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    gathered and kindled the tireless fire on the hearth.

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    Telemachus rose from his bed, a man like a god,

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    and put on his clothes; about his shoulder he slung a sharp sword;

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    beneath his shining feet he bound his fine sandals,

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    and took up a strong spear, tipped with sharp bronze.

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    He went and stood on the threshold, and spoke to Eurycleia:

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    "Dear nurse, did you honor the stranger in the house

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    with a bed and food, or does he lie just so, uncared for?

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    For such is my mother, sensible though she is:

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    rashly she honors the worse of mortal men,

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    while the better she sends away dishonored."

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    Then prudent Eurycleia answered him in turn:

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    "You should not now, child, blame her when she is blameless.

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    For he sat and drank wine as long as he himself wished,

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    and said he no longer hungered for food, when she asked him.

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    But when he turned his mind to rest and sleep,

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    she ordered the maids to spread bedding for him,

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    but he, like a man utterly wretched and luckless,

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    would not sleep on a bed and under blankets,

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    but on an undressed bullock's hide and the fleeces of sheep

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    he lay down in the forecourt; and we threw a cloak over him."

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    So she spoke, and Telemachus strode out through the hall

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    holding his spear, and two swift dogs followed at his side.

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    He went on his way to the assembly, to join the well-greaved Achaeans.

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    Then the noble among women called out to the maids,

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    Eurycleia, daughter of Ops, Peisenor's son:

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    "Come, bestir yourselves: some of you sweep the house and tidy it,

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    sprinkle the floor, and on the well-made chairs

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    throw the purple coverings; others, with sponges, the tables

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    wipe down, every one, and clean the mixing-bowls

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    and the well-wrought double cups; and you, for water

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    go to the spring, and bring it back quickly as you come.

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    For the suitors will not be long away from the hall,

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    but will come very early, since today is a feast for all."

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    So she spoke, and they listened well to her and obeyed.

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    Twenty of them went to the spring of dark water,

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    and the others labored skillfully there about the house.

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    In came the menservants of the Achaeans. They then

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    well and skillfully split firewood, and the women

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    came back from the spring; and after them came the swineherd

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    driving in three fattened hogs, the best of all his herd.

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    These he let feed within the fair enclosures,

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    and he himself spoke to Odysseus with gentle words:

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    "Stranger, do the Achaeans regard you any better now,

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    or do they dishonor you throughout the halls, as before?"

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    Then Odysseus of many wiles answered him:

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    "Would, Eumaeus, that the gods might avenge the outrage

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    which these men in their insolence recklessly devise

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    in another's house, and have no portion of shame."

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    So they spoke such things to one another,

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    and close at hand came Melanthius, the herder of goats,

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    leading goats that were the finest in all the flocks,

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    for the suitors' meal; and two herdsmen came with him.

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    He tied the goats up under the echoing portico,

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    and himself again addressed Odysseus with taunts:

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    "Stranger, will you still even now be a nuisance here through the house,

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    begging from the men? Will you not get out the door?

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    I think we two will not part at all

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    before we taste each other's fists, since you beg not in any decent way,

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    but there are other feasts of the Achaeans too."

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    So he spoke, but Odysseus of many wiles made no answer to him,

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    but silently shook his head, brooding deep on evil.

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    Then a third came to them, Philoetius, a leader of men,

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    bringing a barren cow for the suitors and fat goats.

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    Ferrymen had brought them across, men who also carry other

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    people, whoever comes to them.

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    He tied these up well under the echoing portico,

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    and himself then questioned the swineherd, standing close beside him:

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    "Who is this stranger newly come, swineherd,

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    to our house? Of what men does he claim

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    to be? Where is his lineage and his native land?

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    Ill-fated man—yet in his frame he is like a kingly lord.

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    But the gods bring low men who wander far,

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    whenever they spin out misery even for kings."

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    He spoke, and standing near greeted him with his right hand,

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    and raising his voice spoke winged words to him:

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    "Greetings, father stranger; may good fortune be yours

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    hereafter; but now indeed you are gripped by many evils.

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    Father Zeus, no other of the gods is more destructive than you:

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    you have no pity on men, though you yourself begot them,

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    that they should be mingled with misery and grievous pains.

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    I broke into sweat when I saw him, and my eyes filled with tears,

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    remembering Odysseus, for I think that he too,

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    wearing such rags as these, wanders among men,

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    if indeed he still lives anywhere and sees the light of the sun.

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    But if he is already dead and in the house of Hades,

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    then woe is me for blameless Odysseus, who set me over his cattle,

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    while I was still a little child, in the land of the Cephallenians.

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    Now those cattle are beyond counting, nor in any other way

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    could a man's breed of broad-browed oxen grow up so well;

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    yet others order me to drive these in for them

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    to eat, and they care nothing for the son in the halls,

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    nor do they dread the gods' watching eyes; for already they are eager

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    to divide up the possessions of a master long gone.

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    But within my own breast my heart

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    keeps turning many things over: it is a very evil thing, while the son lives,

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    to go off to the land of strangers, taking the cattle themselves with me,

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    to foreign men; yet it is more chilling still to stay here

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    to sit here over another man's cattle and suffer such grief.

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    Long ago I would have gone to some other mighty king,

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    fled to him, since these things are no longer bearable;

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    but still I keep thinking of that unlucky man, hoping he may come from somewhere

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    and scatter the suitors in flight throughout the halls.

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    Then resourceful Odysseus answered him and said:

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    "Cowherd, since you seem neither a base nor a senseless man,

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    and I myself can see that good sense has reached your wits,

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    for that reason I will speak, and swear a great oath upon it:

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    let Zeus now be my witness first of the gods, and the guest-table,

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    and the hearth of blameless Odysseus, to which I have come:

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    truly, while you are still here, Odysseus will come home.

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    With your own eyes you will see, if you wish,

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    the suitors slain, who lord it over this house."

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    Then the man who herded the cattle answered him:

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    "Stranger, if only the son of Cronos would fulfill that word,

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    you would learn what my strength is and what these hands can do."

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    And in the same way Eumaeus prayed to all the gods

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    that wise Odysseus might return to his own home.

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    So they spoke such things to one another,

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    while the suitors were contriving death and doom for Telemachus;

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    but a bird came to them on the left, an omen:

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    a high-flying eagle, and it held a trembling dove.

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    Then Amphinomus spoke before them and addressed them:

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    "My friends, this plan of ours will not run to its end for us,

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    the killing of Telemachus; let us turn our minds to the feast instead."

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    So spoke Amphinomus, and his words pleased them.

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    Going into the halls of godlike Odysseus,

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    they laid down their cloaks upon the couches and the chairs,

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    and they sacrificed great sheep and fat goats,

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    they slaughtered fattened pigs and a heifer of the herd;

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    and roasting the inner parts they shared them out, and in the bowls

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    they mixed the wine; and the swineherd handed round the cups.

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    Philoetius, leader of men, dealt out the bread to them

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    in fine baskets, and Melanthius poured the wine.

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    And they reached out their hands to the good things laid ready before them.

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    But Telemachus, plying his cunning, seated Odysseus

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    inside the well-built hall, beside the stone threshold,

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    setting down a shabby stool and a small table for him;

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    he set beside him portions of the inner meat, and poured wine for him

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    in a golden cup, and spoke a word to him:

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    "Sit here now among the men and drink your wine.

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    I myself will ward off from you the taunts and hands

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    of all the suitors, since this is no common house

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    but the house of Odysseus, and he won it for me.

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    And you, suitors, hold back your hearts from abuse

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    and from blows, so that no quarrel or strife may arise."

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    So he spoke, and they all bit their lips with their teeth

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    and marveled at Telemachus, that he spoke so boldly.

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    Then Antinous, son of Eupeithes, spoke among them:

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    "Hard though it is, let us accept the word, Achaeans,

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    of Telemachus; he speaks to us with strong threats.

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    Zeus, son of Cronos, did not allow it; otherwise by now

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    we would have silenced him in the halls, clear-voiced speaker though he is."

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    So spoke Antinous, but Telemachus paid no heed to his words.

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    Meanwhile the heralds were leading a holy hecatomb for the gods

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    up through the town; and the long-haired Achaeans gathered

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    under the shady grove of far-shooting Apollo.

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    When they had roasted the outer flesh and drawn it off,

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    they divided the portions and feasted on the glorious feast;

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    and beside Odysseus those who served set down a portion

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    equal to their own share; for so had he commanded,

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    Telemachus, the dear son of godlike Odysseus.

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    But Athena did not at all let the arrogant suitors

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    hold back from heart-galling abuse, so that still more

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    the pain might sink into the heart of Odysseus, son of Laertes.

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    Now there was among the suitors a man who knew lawless ways,

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    Ctesippus was his name, and he had his home in Same;

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    trusting in his prodigious wealth,

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    he was wooing the wife of Odysseus, long gone away.

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    He then spoke among the overweening suitors:

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    "Hear me, proud suitors, so that I may say something.

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    The stranger has long had his portion, as is fitting,

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    an equal one; for it is neither good nor just

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    to slight the guests of Telemachus, whoever comes to this house.

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    But come, I too will give him a guest-gift, so that he in turn

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    may give a present to the bath-woman, or to some other

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    of the servants who are in the house of godlike Odysseus."

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    So saying, he hurled an ox's foot with his strong hand,

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    taking it where it lay in the basket; but Odysseus dodged it,

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    tilting his head slightly aside, and he smiled in his heart

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    a most bitter, sardonic smile; and it struck the well-built wall.

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    Then Telemachus rebuked Ctesippus with words:

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    "Ctesippus, truly it was better for your spirit this way:

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    you did not hit the stranger, for he dodged the missile himself.

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    Otherwise I would have struck you through the middle with my sharp spear,

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    and instead of a wedding your father would have busied himself with a funeral

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    here. So let no one display unseemly conduct in my house;

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    for now I understand and know each thing,

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    both the good and the worse; before this I was still a child.

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    But even so we endure to look upon these things,

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    the sheep being slaughtered and the wine drunk

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    and the bread consumed; for it is hard for one man to restrain many.

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    But come, do me no more harm in your hostility.

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    And if you are now eager to kill me myself with the bronze,

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    even that I would choose, and it would be far better

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    to be dead than forever to look on these shameful deeds,

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    guests being abused, and the serving-women

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    dragged about disgracefully through the fair halls."

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    So he spoke, and they all fell silent, hushed.

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    At last Agelaus, son of Damastor, spoke among them:

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    "My friends, surely no one should take offense at a just saying

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    and attack it with hostile, angry words:

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    do not abuse the stranger, nor any other

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    of the servants who are in the house of godlike Odysseus.

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    But to Telemachus and his mother I would say a word,

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    a gentle one, if it would please the heart of them both:

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    as long as your hearts within your breasts still hoped

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    that wise Odysseus would return to his own home,

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    until then there was no blame in waiting and holding the suitors back

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    the suitors throughout the house, since this was the better course,

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    if Odysseus should return and come back home;

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    but now it is already clear that he will never come home again.

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    So come, sit beside your mother and tell her this:

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    to marry whatever man is best and offers the most gifts,

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    so that you may enjoy all your father's goods in peace,

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    eating and drinking, while she keeps another man's house.

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    Then wise Telemachus answered him in turn:

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    "No, by Zeus, Agelaus, and by the sufferings of my father,

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    who somewhere far from Ithaca has either died or wanders still,

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    I am not delaying my mother's marriage; rather I urge her

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    to marry whomever she wishes, and I add countless gifts besides.

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    But I am ashamed to drive her from the hall against her will

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    with a word of compulsion; may a god never bring that to pass."

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    So spoke Telemachus; but among the suitors Pallas Athena

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    stirred up unquenchable laughter, and unhinged their wits.

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    They were laughing now with jaws that were not their own,

  348. 348

    and they ate meat befouled with blood; their eyes

  349. 349

    filled with tears, and their hearts foreboded weeping.

  350. 350

    Then godlike Theoclymenus spoke among them:

  351. 351

    "Ah, wretched men, what is this horror you suffer? In night

  352. 352

    your heads and faces and knees below are shrouded.

  353. 353

    Wailing has broken out, your cheeks are wet with tears,

  354. 354

    the walls are spattered with blood and the fair roof-beams too;

  355. 355

    the porch is full of ghosts, and the courtyard full,

  356. 356

    of them rushing down to Erebus beneath the gloom; and the sun

  357. 357

    has perished from the sky, and an evil mist has spread over all."

  358. 358

    So he spoke, but they all laughed merrily at him.

  359. 359

    Then Eurymachus, son of Polybus, began to speak among them:

  360. 360

    "This stranger newly come from elsewhere has lost his mind.

  361. 361

    Quick, young men, escort him out of the house, through the doors,

  362. 362

    to go to the assembly, since here he thinks it is night."

  363. 363

    Then godlike Theoclymenus answered him:

  364. 364

    "Eurymachus, I do not ask you to give me escorts.

  365. 365

    I have eyes and ears and both my feet,

  366. 366

    and a mind in my breast well shaped, no faulty thing.

  367. 367

    With these I will go out the doors, for I perceive evil coming

  368. 368

    upon you, which not one of the suitors will escape or avoid,

  369. 369

    you who in the house of godlike Odysseus

  370. 370

    abuse men and contrive your reckless outrages."

  371. 371

    So speaking he went out from the well-built halls,

  372. 372

    and came to Piraeus, who received him kindly.

  373. 373

    Then all the suitors, looking at one another,

  374. 374

    kept goading Telemachus by laughing at his guests.

  375. 375

    And thus one of the arrogant young men would say:

  376. 376

    "Telemachus, no man is worse off in his guests than you.

  377. 377

    What a filthy vagabond you keep there,

  378. 378

    needy for bread and wine, with no skill at any work

  379. 379

    or in fighting, but a mere dead weight on the earth.

  380. 380

    And here is this other fellow who has stood up to prophesy.

  381. 381

    But if you would listen to me, it would be far better:

  382. 382

    let us throw the strangers aboard a many-benched ship

  383. 383

    and send them to the Sicels, where they would fetch you a good price."

  384. 384

    So spoke the suitors, but he paid no heed to their words,

  385. 385

    but in silence kept watching his father, waiting always

  386. 386

    for when he would lay his hands upon the shameless suitors.

  387. 387

    And she, having set her lovely chair facing them,

  388. 388

    the daughter of Icarius, wise Penelope,

  389. 389

    listened to the words of each man in the hall.

  390. 390

    For laughing they had made themselves a dinner,

  391. 391

    sweet and satisfying, since they had sacrificed many beasts;

  392. 392

    but no supper could ever be more graceless than this,

  393. 393

    such as the goddess and the mighty man were soon

  394. 394

    to set before them; for they had first contrived their shameful deeds.

The particulars

The text
Ὀδύσσεια, Homer. The Homecoming.
Translation
Public-domain Greek (Homer, ancient; text via the Perseus Digital Library). English translation © 2026 1732 Studios, LLC.
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Two whoopie pies and a pine. An inside joke.